Trump-backed Lauren Boebert concedes Colorado House race after narrow defeat to Democrat Eileen Laubacher

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert conceded her re-election race in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District after Democrat Eileen Laubacher defeated her by less than 1 percentage point, according to the Associated Press. The loss ends Boebert’s six-year congressional career and marks a major upset in one of Colorado’s most conservative districts.

“I just called Eileen Laubacher to congratulate her,” Boebert said in a video message. She added that “the people of our district are more important than party politics” and promised to ensure that constituent cases and records were transferred properly.

Laubacher, a retired two-star Navy rear admiral and former national security official, defeated Boebert in a district that has historically favoured Republicans. The eastern Colorado district spans rural communities and has been considered a Republican stronghold for years.

Boebert entered Congress in 2020 and quickly became a leading conservative voice. She built a national profile through strong support for gun rights, religious conservatism and Trump’s political agenda. Her congressional career also attracted repeated controversy.

She questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, supported efforts to challenge President Joe Biden’s victory and faced criticism after tweeting “Today is 1776” on the morning of the January 6 Capitol attack.

She later condemned the violence. In 2023, Boebert faced widespread criticism after she was removed from a Denver performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” for disruptive behaviour. She later apologised for the incident. Despite her close alignment with Trump, Boebert occasionally broke with the president.

She became one of the Republican lawmakers pushing for the release of Jeffrey Epstein files which reportedly angered Trump who proceeded to call her a “carpetbagger” and “dumb”. In her concession message, Boebert framed her time in Congress as a mission rather than a career.

She said she would continue fighting for conservative causes outside elected office. “Public service was never meant to be a lifetime career,” Boebert said. “So I’m home, I am happy, I have peace and this is not the last you’ll be hearing from me.” Laubacher campaigned heavily on her decades of military and national security experience.

She served in Afghanistan and later worked on the National Security Council during the Biden administration. She became a registered Democrat in 2025 and argued during the campaign that the Republican Party had moved away from its traditional values.

Laubacher said her campaign focused on public service rather than party identity. “I’m honoured by the trust the people of Colorado’s fourth district have placed in me,” Laubacher said after the victory. “This campaign was never about party labels.

It was about putting people first.” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene celebrated the result and criticised Boebert’s political style. According to The Guardian, DelBene said in a statement,“Lauren Boebert’s sideshow is over.” Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times.

She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues.

Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats.

Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments.

She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More